Toronto, April
18, 2011 -The UK newspaper 'The
Independent'
has released details on the existence of high level
talks between Commonwealth governments to repeal the
British monarchy's sexist and discriminatory
succession rule puttingmales before first-born females. The
initiative, which does not appear to address the
bigoted exclusion of Roman Catholics, requires the
unanimous agreement of 16 Commonwealth parliaments.

According to the
article, the Government of Canada is expressing
opposition to the move on the grounds that it "isn't
a priority" and the republican movement could take
advantage of the process "to seek todetach from the monarchy altogether."

Tom Freda, spokesperson
for Canada's republican movement, Citizens for a
Canadian Republic, confessed, "If that's what they
think, then they're right!"

"Opinion polls
consistently show
that the majority of Canadians want a
national debate on the monarchy and are even ready
to open the constitution to deal with it," he said.
"The so
called "modernizing" of
the
institution in no way detracts from that desire."

"We've always advocated
thatrules
for selecting a
head of state which
contravene our Charter of Rights and Freedoms
proves that the monarchy is incompatible
with contemporary Canadianvalues," Freda adds. "But the fact that
Canada is still subordinate to the laws of Britain
is just one more of
a long list of reasons to examine the whole
constitutional issue, not just the
succession rules."

Opinion poll link :
May 26, 2010 - Would you support or oppose reopening
Canada’s constitutional debate to discuss the possibility of replacing
the monarch with an elected head of state? Support - 52%,
Oppose - 32%,
Not sure - 17%

ABOUT
CITIZENS FOR A CANADIAN REPUBLIC

Canada's republican movement, Citizens for a Canadian Republic
advocates a parliamentary republic by ending our
constitutional link to the British monarchy. More information is available at CCR’s
website.